Contrary to that apprehension, A Charlie Brown Christmas received high ratings and acclaim from critics. It has since been honored with both an Emmy and Peabody Award. It became an annual broadcast in the United States, and has been aired during the Christmas season traditionally every year since its premiere. Its success paved the way for a series of Peanuts television specials and films. Its jazz soundtrack also achieved commercial success, selling 4 million copies in the US. Live theatrical versions of A Charlie Brown Christmas have been staged. ABC currently holds the rights to the special and broadcasts it at least twice during the weeks leading up to Christmas.
The program premiered on CBS on December 9, 1965, at 7:30 pm ET (pre-empting The Munsters),[27] and was viewed by 45% of those watching television that evening,[13] with the number of homes watching the special an estimated 15,490,000, placing it at number two in the ratings, behind Bonanza on NBC.[2] The special received unanimous critical acclaim: The Hollywood Reporter deemed the show "delightfully novel and amusing," while the Weekly Variety dubbed it "fascinating and haunting."[28] Bob Williams of the New York Post praised the "very neat transition from comic page to screen," while Lawrence Laurent of The Washington Post declared that "natural-born loser Charlie Brown finally turned up a real winner last night."[29] Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram hailed the scene in which Linus recites scripture, commenting, "Linus' reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season."[29] Harry Harris of The Philadelphia Inquirer called the program "a yule classic [...] generated quiet warmth and amusement," and Terrence O'Flaherty of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Charlie Brown was a gem of a television show."[28] Ben Gross of the New York Daily News praised the special's "charm and good taste," while Rick DuBrow of United Press International predicted, "the Peanuts characters last night staked out a claim to a major television future."[29]
A true classic, the festive red-and-white Christmas tree skirt helps you jingle all the way this holiday season. Protect your floors from needles and sap while showing off your Christmas presents. Go beyond traditional holiday colors with a luxurious white velvet tree skirt that’s adorned with a beaded, gold-tone nativity scene. For a more casual look, try a skirt that boasts snowflakes or a simple holiday message. Whatever your choice, you’re sure to bring some extra yuletide spirit to your tree all season long.
A layer of cork on the bottom of the stand protects your floors, which is nice if you have hardwood. The most innovative aspect of this stand is the vertical arms, which can be adjusted up or down to avoid issues with limbs. That’s a much better solution than just cutting them off and taking away some of the fullness of your tree. Santa’s Solution has a 1.5 gallon water reservoir and holds trees as tall as ten feet, with trunks up to 6.5 inches in diameter.
Cost and realism go hand in hand. Using molds often taken from actual branches, artificial-tree manufacturers shape polyethylene, or PE, to produce highly realistic branch tips. More tips generally make the tree look fuller, with fewer gaps, and more tips cost more money. Similarly, a higher percentage of polyethylene in a tree’s construction generally equates to greater realism—and a higher price. Our pick, for reference, has 1,867 tips and is 37 percent polyethylene, and is convincingly lifelike even up close. You can get trees with far more eye-popping stats, though. This particularly lovely Balsam Fir from Balsam Hill’s most-realistic line of trees, for example, has almost 6,000 tips and is 70 percent polyethylene—and comes at a price to match that extravagance. As with real trees, overall bigger sizes come with bigger costs: House of Holiday, for example, carries more than two dozen trees measuring 12 feet or taller with price tags north of $1,000.

Next, we consulted review sites like Wirecutter and cultivation sites like New York Magazine to get a more well-rounded view of the trees on the market. And finally, we browsed home decorating sites like Good Housekeeping to see which artificial trees they liked best. From there, we charted all of the trees and their specs (like height and material) to compare and contrast which ones were best.

Unlike the impostors of the past, the best of today's imitation trees could pass as the real thing. Another big improvement: Most artificial Christmas trees come pre-lit, so you can skip the temper-fraying ritual of distributing lights evenly around the branches and focus on these Christmas tree decorating ideas instead. Whether you're looking for something classic with no-frills tree or a unique eye-catcher, there's an artificial Christmas tree here for you.

The program premiered on CBS on December 9, 1965, at 7:30 pm ET (pre-empting The Munsters),[27] and was viewed by 45% of those watching television that evening,[13] with the number of homes watching the special an estimated 15,490,000, placing it at number two in the ratings, behind Bonanza on NBC.[2] The special received unanimous critical acclaim: The Hollywood Reporter deemed the show "delightfully novel and amusing," while the Weekly Variety dubbed it "fascinating and haunting."[28] Bob Williams of the New York Post praised the "very neat transition from comic page to screen," while Lawrence Laurent of The Washington Post declared that "natural-born loser Charlie Brown finally turned up a real winner last night."[29] Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram hailed the scene in which Linus recites scripture, commenting, "Linus' reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season."[29] Harry Harris of The Philadelphia Inquirer called the program "a yule classic [...] generated quiet warmth and amusement," and Terrence O'Flaherty of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Charlie Brown was a gem of a television show."[28] Ben Gross of the New York Daily News praised the special's "charm and good taste," while Rick DuBrow of United Press International predicted, "the Peanuts characters last night staked out a claim to a major television future."[29]

One of the Krinner’s other major advantages is the ability to handle a wide range of trunk sizes. With the claws cranked all the way down, this stand will hold a tree with a trunk as small as 1 inch in diameter. The maximum trunk diameter it will accept is 7 inches. That gives you a lot of flexibility on tree sizes. When testing on our smaller tree, with its 3.5-inch diameter trunk, some other stands’ screws could barely extend far enough to meet the trunk (and they wouldn’t work with a tree any smaller than that).
With this in mind, the trio set out to cast the characters, which proved to be a daunting process. Casting for Charlie Brown proved most difficult, as it required both good acting skills but also the ability to appear nonchalant.[14] The producers picked eight-year-old Peter Robbins, already known for his roles spanning television, film, and advertisements.[15] His godmother, famous Hollywood agent Hazel McMillen, discovered Christopher Shea, who would become Linus in the special.[15] His slight lisp, according to Mendelson, gave him a "youthful sweetness," while his emotional script reading "gave him power and authority as well."[17] Tracy Stratford played the role of Lucy, with the creators being impressed by her attitude and professionalism.[18] Kathy Steinberg was the youngest of the performers, just six years old at the time of recording. Too young to read, the producers had to give her one line at a time to recite.[18] Robbins remembered Melendez did this for him as well, joking that he also mistakenly copied his Latino accent.[2] Mendelson desired to have non-actors (not "Hollywood kids") perform on the special, and he sent tape recorders home with his employees for their children to audition.[13]
Box shows visible wear and tear. Comes with stand and small red ornament. Tree is a little worn and one of the branches is a little snapped, fixable with tape or glue. Extremely cute and unique for any display. If you have any questions feel free to message me and feel free to shoot me any offers! Item will be shipped same day it’s purchased and will be bubble wrapped and protected.
Say happy holidays with the LED Pre-Lit 36 Say happy holidays with the LED Pre-Lit 36 in Mixed Pine wreath. Design includes burgundy fabric poinsettias berries and gold glitter cedar. For sparkle there are warm white LED lights. Battery-powered for cord-free convenience the lights also include a timer function that enables you to place the wreath in those ... More + Product Details Close
Who does't remember and love the classic Charlie Brown Christmas? A Peanuts favorite, this sparse 18-inch tree is designed to look just like the wilting tree from the classic Charlie Brown production, and comes complete with a lovely pale blue Linus blanket as a bundled accessory. Not everyone can have that perfectly shaped and decorated Christmas Tree - celebrate the lesser trees of this Christmas season! Charlie Brown showed us all that the meaning of Christmas was in your heart and that every tree has that potential to be the greatest Christmas tree ever. Keep this spirit alive and get this heart warming Christmas Tree to decorate your home this season. Sure to bring a smile to everyone's face, and perfect for any Charlie Brown fans. Your family will love it for years to come!
And even if you have room to store an artificial tree, bear in mind that, as Gurino noted, it won’t easily go back into its original box: “Once you fluff it, it’ll never fit exactly.” After we were done with our photo shoot, I spent about half an hour painstakingly collapsing each branch of our tree, one by one, as tight as I could against the central pole, to prep the tree for shipping. My best advice: Start from the top (the shortest branches) and end at the bottom (the longest branches). First pinch the branch tips together into a sort of bundle; then fold up the branch itself. Even after I did that, though, it made some obvious bulges in the original shipping box.
A feature that’s available only with LEDs is the ability to toggle between all-white and multicolor light—but most artificial trees are still sold with only one color mode or the other. Our pick is one of the relatively few that come with color-switching lights (and we made sure that all our other picks in this guide have this ability, too). We think this versatility is a big selling point for a tree you’ll have around for several seasons, and possibly multiple settings and occasions. For example, you could use all-white for a more sophisticated look during a grown-up holiday party and use the multicolor mode when the mood is more festive. Or you could just do something different from year to year so that it doesn’t seem like the same tree every Christmas.
Along the lower Rhine, an area of Roman Catholic majority, the Christmas tree was largely regarded as a Protestant custom. As a result, it remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long period of time. The custom did eventually gain wider acceptance beginning around 1815 by way of Prussian officials who emigrated there following the Congress of Vienna.

A layer of cork on the bottom of the stand protects your floors, which is nice if you have hardwood. The most innovative aspect of this stand is the vertical arms, which can be adjusted up or down to avoid issues with limbs. That’s a much better solution than just cutting them off and taking away some of the fullness of your tree. Santa’s Solution has a 1.5 gallon water reservoir and holds trees as tall as ten feet, with trunks up to 6.5 inches in diameter.

A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that a small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers" was erected in the guild-house for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day.[27] In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square, where the young men "went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame".
Size: The size and width of your tree is an important factor to consider when searching for Christmas tree stands. Standard Christmas tree stands support trees up to 7 feet tall. Check the manufacturer’s guidelines to find out if a stand can accommodate taller Christmas trees. If you do have a taller tree, look for Christmas tree stands with a circular base. A stand with a wide, circular Christmas tree base provides better stabilization, preventing your room’s star attraction from tipping over while also keeping it perfectly aligned.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it when I first assembled it. But it’s perfect! Now that it’s all decorated and in its special spot, it’s really pretty. I like the fact that it is not really full, as we have a very small house and a full tree takes up too much space. This one is perfect. I also like the fact that the tree trunk shows! I am thinking that I can remove the Christmas ornaments and leave it up. Will put some ‘non-Christmas’ things on it and leave it up all year! Love it.”

The show's glowing reviews were highlighted with an ad in trade magazines;[30] one thanked Coca-Cola, CBS, United Features Syndicate, and the show's viewers.[28] Fantasy released the special's soundtrack the first week of December 1965, coinciding with the special's airdate.[31] United Feature Syndicate pushed hard to promote the special, while Word Publishing issued a hardcover adaption of the special.[31] CBS promptly ordered four additional Peanuts specials.[9] A Charlie Brown Christmas was awarded the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program in 1966. "Charlie Brown is not used to winning, so we thank you," Schulz joked.[2]

Although the tradition of decorating churches and homes with evergreens at Christmas was long established,[32] the custom of decorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until some two centuries ago. At the time of the personal union with Hanover, George III's German-born wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800.[33] The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family.[34] Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote:[35]

The Dunhill Fir is a full body tree The Dunhill Fir is a full body tree featuring a generous number of branch tips for holding holiday trimmings. It is pre-strung with 650 multicolor lights that remain lit even if a bulb burns out. This three section tree features hinged branches for ease of assembly. Sturdy folding metal tree ... More + Product Details Close

Virtually all contemporary artificial trees have branches permanently mounted on hinges on the center pole. This design means that they all unfurl into place quickly when you set up the tree; in the past, you often had to snap individual branches into sockets on the center pole one by one, a time-consuming and fussy process. For this guide, we sought trees with permanently mounted, hinged branches—not that there’s much choice on that anymore.

Wreath accessories are available to make your decorating experience easier. Consider round storage bags to keep your wreath fluffy and protected while it's stored away. For display, decorative wreath hangers made of wrought iron and other metals make hanging a wreath quite easy. If you want to display wreaths throughout your home or along a driveway, consider wreath stands. Simply hang a wreath from the stand's large hook for big decorative impact.
We started our quest for the best artificial christmas tree to buy by researching the artificial Christmas tree market. While there are quite a few brands out there, many of the trees that are sold are almost (if not completely) identical in material and composition. Many of them are just renamed for different brands. We also found that some stores, like Walmart, sold multiple brands online but only had their in-house brand in our local brick and mortar stores.
You’ll want to make sure you have the right Christmas tree base. Keep in mind, the taller the tree, the larger the base. Also, the Christmas tree stand will add height to your tree, so plan to leave enough room between the tree and the ceiling to fit a Christmas tree topper. Surround the base of your tree with a Christmas tree skirt to create the perfect backdrop for presents. If you choose a real tree, the skirt can collect any fallen needles. For the final touch of holiday flair, shop The Home Depot’s huge assortment of Christmas decorations, including Christmas lights, ornaments and garland. And for after the holidays, be sure you have tree bags, organizers and plenty of storage options to get everything packed away neatly for next year.